Friday Recipes: Pasta Perfection

From Nine Naughty Novelist Meg Benjamin

ANCHOVY SPAGHETTI

This recipe comes from Fearless Love (released last Tuesday by Samhain). The chef hero makes it for the heroine after they’ve made love for the first time, but it’s also a good late night supper or a good dish when you don’t have a lot of stuff on hand since most of these ingredients are things you find in the pantry. Enjoy!

What you need:

1 pkge spaghetti

2 cloves garlic minced or run through a garlic press

¼ cup olive oil

6 anchovy filets

1 c toasted breadcrumbs (or more if you like them)

Red pepper flakes

Parmesan

Chopped parsley


What to do:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it, and add spaghetti

2. In a sauce pan, heat the olive oil and add the anchovies. Fry them until they melt in the hot oil

3. Add the garlic and cook quickly until golden

4. Drain the spaghetti (but keep a half cup or so of the pasta water)

5. Pour the anchovy/garlic oil over the spaghetti and add red pepper flakes to taste; toss to mix. If you need to loosen the sauce, add some of the pasta water.

6. Top the spaghetti with a generous amount of toasted breadcrumbs

7. Sprinkle parmesan and chopped parsley over the dish and serve.

Note: There are lots of variations on this dish. You can add lemon zest to the anchovy oil (after you take it off the fire). You can fry up capers with the anchovies and garlic. You can add a can of diced tomatoes to the oil mixture. Make it according to your taste. Buon appetito!

Fearless Love, Konigsberg, Texas, Book 7

Sweet music doesn’t come without a few sour notes.

MG Carmody never figured her musical dreams would crash against the reality of Nashville. Now the only thing she has going for her is her late grandfather’s chicken farm, which comes with molting hens that won’t lay, one irascible rooster, and a huge mortgage held by a ruthless opponent—her Great Aunt Nedda.
With fewer eggs to sell, MG needs extra money, fast. Even if it means carving out time for a job as a prep cook at The Rose—and resisting her attraction to its sexy head chef.

Joe LeBlanc has problems of his own. He’s got a kitchen full of temperamental cooks—one of whom is a sneak thief—a demanding cooking competition to prepare for, and an attraction to MG that could easily boil over into something tasty. If he could figure out the cause of the shy beauty’s lack of self confidence.
In Joe’s arms, MG’s heart begins to find its voice. But between kitchen thieves, performance anxiety, saucy saboteurs, greedy relatives, and one very pissed-off rooster, the chances of them ever making sweet music are looking slimmer by the day.

Warning: Contains hot kitchen sex, cool Americana music, foodie hysteria, and a whole lot of fowl play.
Buy link: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/fearless-love-p-7011.html

From Guest Author Selena Robins

DINNER A LA LEFTOVER

I bet some of you thought romance writers just fantasize and write about hot firemen/cowboys/military/bad boys/Alpha/Beta heroes, eh?

Well, I’m here to tell you that yes, we do, but we also have to cook for our families and the easier the recipe, the better.

Voila! This recipe puts the haute in cuisine.

What you need:

1 Crock Pot (Some places call them Slow Cookers)

Leftover Sexy Sassy Sauce (click here for the recipe)

If you don’t go with the Sexy Sassy Sauce recipe (which trust me you should, just so you could have a lot of it leftover) you can use any leftover tomato sauce, or, in this case, I’ll make an exception and say you can even use…*gulp*…jar sauce.

As an F.B.I. (Full Blooded Italian) I was taught to NEVER EVER use jar sauce, let alone recommend it, however, we’re talking leftovers and I know time is precious. I aim to please and make life simpler for you, so quick and easy is the way to go (use jar sauce, just this once).

One can of Chick peas (don’t worry, no chicks will be injured in the making of this recipe), drained and rinsed.

One can of Lentils (drained and rinsed)

Any leftover vegetables that are sitting in your fridge and in danger of becoming a science experiment.

I used leftover zucchini. Chopped, drizzled with a bit of olive oil and roasted, before adding to the recipe.

You can use any leftover vegetables, except Brussell sprouts. They are the devil’s veggie. Sorry, I don’t mean to offend, it’s one vegetable I don’t like.

Whatever vegetable you have leftover to use, first Sauté or roast them before adding to the crock pot.

Pasta (gluten-free or wheat pasta, whatever you prefer.)

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or any kind of cheese you have that needs using).

Cheese makes the tomatoes and pasta combo even that much better, right? Can I get a hell, yeah, on that?

I’m talking fresh cheese, not that “plastic cheese” also known as Kraft slices or anything in a tube. Even with leftovers, I will not negotiate on this.

Sea Salt & Pepper to taste (red chili peppers are great in this dish)


What to do:

Add the following inside a crock pot: Leftover vegetables, tomato sauce (the sexy, sassy sauce, or one you are using), lentils, chickpeas, salt & pepper.

Stir.

Set your crock pot on low for 4 – 6 hours. (Even less time if you want, basically you’re marrying all the flavors together.)

Important Step:  Curl up with a good romance novel

Come back, bring a pot of salted water to boil, cook your pasta al dente.

Drain pasta.

Stir in crock pot mixture.

Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

There you go. Easy, right?

About Selena Robins

Genre-defying, witty, humorous, suspenseful, romantic and sexy— words used to describe Selena’s novels. A self-professed foodie and chocolate guru, Selena loves to dance with her dog, sing into her hairbrush and write in her PJ's. In love with her family, friends, books, laughter, hockey, lively discussions and red wine (sometimes all at the same time). Selena is a dragon slayer who enjoys reading and writing sassy heroines and hot heroes (the ones your mamma warned you about, but secretly wished she’d dated a few in her life).

To learn more about Selena and her books, please visit her website or drop by her blog and chat.